dreamdeath
by Kyla
Summary: don't ask about the title. I just thought of it. This story is really confusing, okay?


Okay, before you read this: I wrote it how I thought it. And if how I thought it involved skipping back and forth two years or a day or whatnot between chapters, okay. You have a little personal time machine, okay? You just go wherever you want. Pay attention to the notes beside the chapter numbers. If too many people complain, I'll switch some stuff around and add a few things until it's in the right order, but I don't feel like it. 

If anyone notices Ajilan mythology in here, you pay too much attention! Of course, most people have no idea what Ajilan mythology is, anyway.... 

And you must know by now that I kill the Animorphs frequently. If you didn't know... oh, I pity you, you poor, poor, mentally afflicted person. And yes, I _do_ like to stick Crayak in stories! However did you guess? 

-/|\- -/|\- -/|\- 

Chapter one 

Rachel ran out of the front exit of the mall. From above, Tobias spotted her. < In a hurry?> he joked. 

Rachel spun around, looking for him. "Tobias!" she whispered loudly. People stared at her. 

Only then did Tobias take notice that she wasn't carrying anything and that none of the others were with her. He landed on a streetlight. Rachel looked at him. From this angle, he could see her pulse pounding in her neck. < What's going on?> 

Rachel gasped for breath. "What's the fastest way out of here?!" she demanded, not caring who saw her talking to a bird. 

Tobias responded immediantly. < This way, follow me. We can morph--> 

"No!" Rachel gasped, still running full out across the parking lot. She whipped her head back and forth to see if she was being followed. 

< Rach, just tell me what's--> 

Rachel froze the second she saw the car, like a deer caught in headlights. 

< _Move_!> Tobias screamed. 

The driver slammed on the brakes, and Rachel dodged into the forest of parked cars. "Where... are we heading?" she asked. 

< Into an alley, you can morph and--> 

"Don't have time to morph! They'll spot me if I do!" 

< What happened?> 

"Tobias, you have to get out of here! They might already have the others..." When Tobias didn't stop flying, flitting around to see where Rachel could go next, she screamed at him. "_Get out of here!_" 

Tobias refused, leading hertowards the highway. 

Rachel ran faster. "Tobias, I really hope you know what you're doing." 

-/|\- 

Chapter two (that morning) 

Rachel woke up with a yawn and a stretch. 

< Hey, open the window!> 

Rachel rubbed her eyes and shoved the window up. 

< Why'd you close it?> Tobias asked, sounding insulted. < Jake told me to get you quick.> 

"A nice little invention that we humans call air conditioning, Tobias." 

Tobias mumbled something, and Rachel fell back onto her bed. "It's Saturday," she whined. "Saturday! Saturday is a time to catch up on all the sleep you lost watching too much late night TV. Saturday is a good time to crawl into bed and not get out until Sunday-- No, sleep through that, and Monday, too. Saturday is--" 

< Besides that you're sounding more and more like Marco by the second, Jake says to get to Cassie's barn.> Tobias fluffed his feathers. < Actually, he was in a much worse mood than you, but that was the general idea of it.> 

Rachel was wearing her morphing outfit already. Tobias dropped by frequently enough that she always wore clothes that were near decent when she was sleeping. 

Her skin melted into feathers, her hair flowed into her body. Rachel had the urge to yawn, but with a bird beak it didn't exactly work. Her arms and legs melted into wings and the little scaly legs of a bird. < What's the problem, anyway?> 

< Jake didn't tell me,> Tobias said. 

Rachel finished the morph and hopped out the window after Tobias. Early-morning flying. Sure beats early-morning jogging. The sun was already beating down on everything, and the thermals were nice. But they flew as fast as fast birds could, heading in what could pass easily as a straight line. They zig-zagged a bit, and stayed spread apart, but somone particularly observant might have taken notice. Rachel and Tobias didn't care, no one in the right mind would be outside birdwatching in this heat. 

They got to the barn and Rachel instantly began demorphing. "It's _hot_," she complained. 

"Yeah, it's hot, Xena. We didn't notice. Honestly we didn't. We didn't notice that the grass is turning yellow and that our hair is catching on fire and that we're melting into piles of slime." 

< I'm melting! I'm meeeeelting!> Tobias shrieked from the rafters, in a pretty good impression of a thought-speaking Wicked Witch. 

Rachel shot a look at Marco which would shatter glass. 

"Oh, she's grouchy when she doesn't get all her sleep." 

Rachel turned to Jake, ignoring Marco. "What's the deal this time?" 

"The Chee," Jake said, also ignoring Marco. "Erek says that the Yeerks have this new superweapon." 

Rachel groaned. Tobias groaned. So did Cassie and Marco. Ax stood there < What is the purpose of in making that noise?> 

"It's groaning, Ax. It shows that this is almost exactly what we expected but we didn't want it to be." 

< Oh.> 

Ax obviously had no idea exactly the purpose of making that noise, but the humans seemed to do that a lot. 

Jake started talking again. "It's in the mall." 

Rachel blinked. "In the mall? Nothing's been going on at the mall lately. Wouldn't a superweapon involve some reconstruction or whatever?" 

Jake shrugged. "Holograms, maybe? They could knock in a wall and no one would even see it." 

< So what's it look like, Jake?> Tobias asked. 

Jake sighed. "That's the hard part. We have the basic idea that it's about the size of microwave. That's it." 

"That's it?" Rachel and Cassie said at the same time. 

"That's it," Jake confirmed. 

"We are dead meat," Marco groaned. 

-/|\- 

Chapter three 

< You know what, this is a stupid idea. I'm hungry. Do you want to get some fries?> 

< Is that asking for a date, Marco?> 

< Not really,> Marco said hastily. < I just thought that there might be leftovers in the food court.> 

< Good, because if it was, I'd demorph and smash your little wimp face in. This isn't hard at all.> 

Rachel shifted her weight onto her right legs. It was a human reaction to being bored, because cockroaches don't get tired of standing. 

< And why do _we_ get to be roaches?> 

Rachel wondered what would happen if she did demorph inside of the closet, and decided that she didn't feel like finding out. Even if it probably would squish Marco. 

< I mean, we got into the mall... great. Now we're in a tiny closet near a forest of giant snakes that happen to be part of a mop. Please tell me, why a closet?> 

< Because.> Rachel said shortly. 

< Oh, now that's a real good reason. What--> 

Tobias's thought-speach interrupted Marco's complaining. < You two ready?> 

< Yes! We've been ready for the last ten minutes! Where's Jake and company been?> 

< Ax had to morph four times, from human to Andalite to roach to Andalite to human,> Tobias explained calmly. 

< Where are you?> Rachel asked. 

< I'm on the roof, a hawk would be kinda obvious in a crowded mall. So are you coming out or not?> 

< Let's do it!> Rachel said, more by habit than anything else. 

They zoomed at top roach speed out of the closet, under the door, and smack into someone's shoes. 

"That you?" 

The vibrations indicated Jake's voice. < Yeah, it's us,> Rachel said. < Jake, why did we have to morph? And how'd you not get noticed anyway.> 

"We came under the back door like you did," Jake whispered, kneeling down. Rachel and Marco scurried into his hand. "Cassie demorphed and made sure we were clear. We needed someplace other than than a bathroom or changing room to get Ax demorphed, if you know what I mean." 

< Where is everyone?> Rachel asked. She could feel Jake walking through her little roach feet. She would feel his pulse, too, and that his hands weren't too steady. _He's nervous,_ she thought to herself. 

Jake sighed, and spoke to Ax, who was next to him, "I'm putting you guys in my pocket." 

"That is a good idea, Prince Jake," Ax said. "We do not want anyone to see us speaking to cockroaches. Cockroaches. Roches. Roassshes. Ro--" 

"Cassie's getting cinnamon buns for Ax," Jake continued, still walking, ignoring Ax.. "We're getting you demorphed and we can go over there. Erek's supposed to be there for us." 

< Demorphed where?> 

Jake hesitated. "Uh-oh." 

< Uh-oh? _What_?!?" Did I hear an 'uh-oh'? Jake! What's uh-oh?!?> Marco demanded, almost screaming. 

"Uh, Rachel... demorphing... uh, where?" 

< Uh-oh.> Rachel and Marco said in chorus. 

"What is the problem, Prince Jake? Problem? Lem?" 

"Marco, explain." 

Jake might as well have said "This is a crowded mall and I'm not going to be caught trying to discuss why it would be suspisious to have a girl coming out of the men's bathrooms". Marco got the point. 

< It's one of those human society no-no's, Ax. Rachel can't be seen in the men's room. That's why it's called the men's room. Only men are allowed in it. Like moi.> 

"Actually, you are a 'teenager', Marco." Ax corrected. 

Marco sighed. < Just understand that it's a problem.> 

"Okay... kay... k-k-kay." 

"We can get Cassie to get her into the girl's bathroom," Jake suggested. 

Rachel "coughed" in thought-speach. < Why didn't we just demorph in the closet?> 

"Oh." Jake stopped walking. "That's actually a reasonable question...." 

Marco immediantly jumped on Jake. < Demorph in the closet? Now there's a great idea! "Jake, why don't we demorph in the closet?" "Because I'm the thick-as-a-brick leader, and I say so!"> 

Jake sighed and turned around, almost bumping into a group of people. He grabbed Ax by the wrist, because he was in the middle of mumbling something about the smell of coffee, and carried all three of them back to the closet. 

"I don't want to bother kneeling down again, it'll attract attention," Jake said, looking for all the world like he was discussing last night's game. 

< I'm first!> Marco yelled as Jake dropped them on the ground. Rachel patiently waited right next to the wall. She tapped her front legs on the ground like she was getting bored. Jake laughed. Ax played with sounds, with nothing better to do. 

Then there was the sound of the lock being unlocked, and someone turning a knob. It turned, but Marco didn't come out. The door jammed. 

Jake reached up and slid open the other lock. Marco tried again. This time, he walked right out. 

"Hey! Hey you, kids!" 

Everyone froze while Rachel scuttled into the closet. She didn't demorph, she just hid under the broom. "What are you doing?" the security guy demanded. 

"Uh, my friend got lock in here.... a few guys toke his jokes a little too seriously," Jake mumbled. 

< Don't say _anything_, Ax. Don't play with sounds,> Rachel demanded privately. 

The security guy was still skeptical. 

"It wasn't anything!" Marco protested, like someone falsely accused. "I mean, if they can't take anything bad about their girlfriends... well, then who cares? The girl could have said something! Gina was laughing too hard to care! It wasn't my fault!" 

If there was any suspision, then Marco's complaining got the best of it. "Don't tell 'jokes' that can get you in trouble, son," the man said, and walked away. 

As soon as he was out of sight, Rachel walked out of the closet. She had demorphed quickly, not sure when the time limit was. "That was easy," Marco said, wiping off his hands like he had just accomplished something big. 

Rachel stretched. "Yeah. Okay. Let's get to the cinnabun. Sooner we get there the sooner you can tell us what's going on." She swept past them and into the people who were walking down the hall. 

Marco and Jake shrugged at each other, then grabbed Ax and followed her. 

-/|\- 

Chapter four 

Casual banter and stuffing their faces with cinnabuns was grinding on Rachel's nerves. 

Something strange was going on, Rachel thought. It was perfectly normal: Marco cracking jokes that didn't seem all that funny, Cassie listening intently, Ax trying to gobble up everything in sight. 

But Tobias wasn't in sight. That alone was strange. And Jake was nervous. He was tapping his fingers and feet impatiently. And Erek wasn't there. 

"Where _is_ he?" Jake muttered, quietly, but enough to interrupt Marco. 

Marco shrugged. "Erek? Maybe he ran out of batteries? He should be using Energizer. They keep going and going and--" 

"Yeah, we know," Rachel said sharply, cutting him off. Then she leaned over to Jake on her left. "Something weird is going on. Erek is always on time." 

Jake nodded. "What do you think?" 

"I think it's a setup." 

"Damn right it's a setup," Jake said in a slightly different tone. And to her amazement, he had a dracon beam pointed at her under the table in his right hand. 

Marco was frozen in shock. Cassie was holding a dracon on him. 

No one else in the mall seemed to notice anything. 

"Get up," Jake muttered. "Very carefully and slowly." 

She couldn't have morphed any weapons, so he wasn't all that concerned. He could stun her easily before she morphed. And in this crowded area, she couldn't morph. 

Marco was slowly standing too, backing away from the table. Cassie kept her dracon aimed at him, but down near the table. 

A setup. They were controllers. Ax, too. That was why they had gone in a different way. Rachel's mind spun, and her brain came up with one thing that had worked for thousands of years. 

Run. 

Rachel nearly fell backwards into a group of shoppers, scrabbled to stay on her feet, and dashed for the nearest exit. 

She couldn't hear the sizzle of deadly red light, and she ran straight out the main entrance, blindly heading for Tobias. 

-/|\- 

Chapter five (right after chapter one) 

From Tobias's point of view, the highway that Rachel had momentarily paused to size up was a huge, real-life game of Frogger. And like the controls on the arcade game, he was the one to make the "frog" move. 

< Now! Run!> 

Rachel ran through the first two lines of traffic and stopped still between the second and third. Cars swerved on either side of her, trying to keep a safe distance away from them and her. Some people weren't even that considerate. Rachel could feel the cars flying past her, some only inches away. 

< Rachel, get moving... _now_!> 

Horns blaring. Someone cursing at her. A child wailing from the suddeness of a car's stop. Flashes of color flew by her on both sides. 

< You're causing a traffic jam, get moving! Someone's getting out of his car, and "someone" doesn't seem too happy!> 

Rachel dashed through the next three lanes easily-- people were pausing to see what was going on. < Rachel, that guy is still-- He's a controller!> 

Tobias finished his sentence at the same time a red light flashed through the sky. "_TOBIAS_!" Rachel screamed. 

Tobias never hit the ground. There wasn't anything left to hit the ground. He was simply gone. 

That saved Rachel's life. If she had seen him fall, she would have tried to go after him, and would get killed either by the controller or the cars. 

She stumbled backwards into the woods. The controller man couldn't draw attention to himself. He was getting back in his car. The dracon beam had disappeared, as far is she could see. 

Tears streamed down Rachel's face as she moved farther into the forest, while at the same time she cursed the sky for everything wrong with the "Animorphs". 

-/|\- 

Chapter six (two days later) 

Rachel had run away. 

Sara and Jordan had looked everywhere. They had even gotten Rachel's friends to help. Then a club called the Sharing joined in. The Sharing was doing everything they could to help find Rachel. Sara and Jordan spent all day in the house, waiting for people to call. Their mother hadn't gone to work today. But she was sleeping, Jordan had told Sara. They answered the phone when people called, and answered the best that they could. 

"Yes, Rachel's missing," Jordan said. Sara fidgeted on the couch. "No one knows what happened, but we're all looking for her. The Sharing, yeah. They're a group-- yeah. Okay. Call back if you see her. I-have-to-get-off-the-line-because-someone-else-might-call-bye." 

Jordan hung up the phone and hugged Sara. "Don't worry. We're going to find her." 

-/|\- 

Rachel was glad for the wolf's endurance. She was pushing the limit, but she could keep up this pace for the next two hours, easily. 

Heading into the mountians. Heading away from the city. Away from the Hork-Bajir village. Away from the friends, the family, the mall, the Yeerks. 

Rachel didn't pay attention. She demorphed whenever it felt like a good idea. Remorphed as soon as she was human again. Hunted rabbits and ate them, gulping them down like she hadn't anything to eat in years. Sometimes other animals. She was perfectly in control of her own mind, but her body and the rest of the outside world could go to hell. 

Rachel slept inside her mind. The wolf kept going. The wolf wasn't tired. There was too much danger to be tired. This was another pack's territory. The wolf kept going. 

Rachel kept her mind wrapped in gray fog unless she was morphing or demorphing. Those were the only times that she was in control. 

The rest of the time, the wolf kept going. 

It was a starved and panting wolf that arrived at the _place_. Rachel took control to demorph. With her human eyes, she saw it clearly. 

The wolf that had manifested itself in her whined. 

The wolf wanted to keep going. 

Rachel walked through the castle gates. 

-/|\- 

Chapter 7.0 (two years later) 

Rachel dropped to her knees out of sheer exhaustion. How long had she been running? How long? 

Time didn't count for her anymore. It could have been hours. It could have been years. 

_Your fault your fault it's your fault it's all yours, yours, your fault_.... 

Rachel kicked herself into her mind. The wolf was there. The wolf wanted to take over. 

The wolf wanted to keep going. 

That was fine with Rachel, as she flowed easily into wolf shape from so much "practice." Rachel wanted to run as well. 

This time, nothing was going to stop her. 

NOT STOP YOU, RACHEL? 

< Elimist,> Rachel hissed. The wolf was growling. 

ELIMIST? NO, I AM NOT AN ELIMIST, RACHEL. I AM NOT AN ELIMIST. 

< Who are you?> 

-/|\- 

Chapter eight (ten seconds after the end of chapter 6) 

Rachel walked into the castle gate carefully. "Anyone here?" 

Echo . . . echo . . . . . echo . . . . . . . . 

"No one?" 

"No one? no one? n'one? one? un?" the echo taunted. 

"Hello?!" Rachel called again. The walls of the building were only a few feet away, but she felt like she was being watched. 

"Hi," came a casual voice from behind her. 

Rachel spun, growling, ready to kill whoever was behind her. 

"Oh," Rachel said. 

"Hi," the girl repeated. She was about six years old and didn't look like she could swat at a fly, definately not attack her with any chance of winning. 

"Hi." 

"Who're you?" 

"I'm..." Rachel hesitated. 

The girl smiled. "I am Fayth. Welcome to Peacehaven. You can make up another name later." 

"Another name?" Rachel asked. 

Fayth turned and started walking down the hallway, talking rapidly. "Yes, this is Peacehaven. You can make up a name if you wish, or use your own." 

"Rashel," Rachel said. Close to her real name, so very close. "Are there other people here?" 

Fayth almost laughed. "Other people?" She waved to the gate to the inner wall of the castle. It slowly creaked open. "Other people, Rashel? You don't know half of it." 

-/|\- 

Chapter nine (aka, chapter 7.5, two years after "frogger at the mall") 

I AM THE ONE WHO HAS COME TO WARN YOU, the being said. 

< Well fuck you! I'm not in this war anymore! I'm out!> 

YOU FEAR THE WAR. 

< Damn right I fear it!> 

IT SCARES YOU. 

< Yes!> Rachel screamed. < It scares me! There! Is that better? Are you happy now that you know that?!> 

YOU ARE NO LONGER INVOLVED IN THIS PART OF THE WAR. 

< Wonderful. What now?> 

I BELIEVE YOU MADE A DEAL WITH THE CRAYAK.... 

< I _what_?!?!> 

The world started shifting, swirling around Rachel. < I did _what_!> 

A DEAL IS A DEAL.... the voice said as Rachel seemed to spiral away. 

A deal is a deal.... a deal is a deal... a deal is... a deal... 

_A deal is death_, Rachel thought fuzzily as she was dragged away and lost consciousness. 

-/|\- 

Chapter ten (back in the castle with Fayth) 

"This is Rashel!" Fayth shouted. 

Rachel looked around. People were everywhere. The castle looked like... well, like a beehive. It was built in a sort of maze, which she could see clearly from her and Fayth's perch on the inner curtain. 

There was a bit of scattered applause, shouting back, but mostly everyone kept working. "What is everyone doing?" Rachel asked. 

"Nothing much." 

"Nothing much?! But--" 

"Rashel, there's one reason for this place, and that's to keep you safe. They are busy. They are very busy entertaining themselves and others." 

"Okay then. That's what I wanted to know." 

"Come on dow, I'll show you around." 

Unconsciously, Rachel started to morph. People were a threat. Threats had to be dealt with. Dealt with meant one thing in the wolf's mind right then: kill. 

Fayth stopped and looked back at her. Rachel paused her morphing. 

There was silence for a few seconds, and Fayth finally said, "Okay, so demorph or morph, either way I need to show you around." 

< You can morph too?> Rachel asked in surprise. 

"No, but continue whichever way you prefer." 

Rachel demorphed. From her remark, either she could morph or knew someone who could. Rachel wanted to be able to morph anything, depending on what attacked her. 

A huge snake-like head appeared in the hallway. "Faythhh," it hissed. 

"Hi, Maki. What are you doing?" 

The head shrunk, shrunk right in front of Rachel's eyes. A dragon, yes, a dragon, about the size of a large man came out. 

Maki fluffed her wings. "Nothing muchh." 

"This is Rashel. She's new." 

"Hello, Rashhhel." 

Rachel hesitated, looking at the grin full of teeth that could rip her to shreds. "Um, hi." 

"Hurry up," Fayth insisted. She tugged Rachel's sleeve. 

-/|\- 

Chapter eleven (right before chapter 7) 

Rashel fit in wonderful, Fayth thought cheerfully, curling up with her brothers and sisters in their room. She yawned and swiped at Scept with her tongue. He batted at her with a paw and she growled playfully and jumped at him. Mercy joined in, and they rolled around on the slightly dirty floor for a minute. 

Looking injured, Fayth jumped out of the pile and began licking her paws. Scept pounced on her and dragged her back into the fight. 

It was nice to never grow up, Fayth decided. She pitied those other people. Rachel was older now, too. She was going to help Maki's group fight some of those bad alien things. Rashel was a nice fighter. Fayth batted Grace away from her and kept thinking. Then the door banged open, startling all of the kittens. 

"Fayth!" Rashel yelled, trying to find the solid black panther-kitten. 

Fayth considered staying put. It was comfortable here. But Rashel didn't sound happy. She sounded like she was having a bad day. Maybe a kitten would cheer her up. Fayth knew that always cheered most of the people up. She wandered out of the room and rubbed against Rashel's legs, purring. 

She found herself harshly kicked, along with a few scorching words. 

The kitten form shimmered, and Fayth the human stood in front of Rashel. "Whaaaaaat?" she whined, rubbing her ribs. 

Murder was written on Rashel's face. "You didn't tell me who we were fighting!" 

Fayth yawned and stretched, catlike. "Sooo?" she drawled. 

"That was my cousin's Yeerk's fleet!" 

Fayth blinked. "Oops," she said. "Sorry. That's all?" 

"_That's all_?!?! What do you mean, 'that's all'?! I killed my cousin!" 

Fayth shrugged, rubbing her back against the wall. "And a buncha aliens guys." She didn't like getting up after she had decided to go to sleep. Nevermind that she had been wide awake still. 

Something slammed into her shoulders hard, pinning her to the wall. Fayth choked on the air she was trying to breathe. 

"Listen to me," Rashel said in a malice-ladden voice. "I am going to kill you, because that is what you deserve. I have done everything I could to help you and your fort. I don't understand why you're in charge here, you look six years old and act two. In this place, I am a freak because I don't look like a freak. And I have lived here, two years, isn't it? And you, you fucking panther--" 

"Hold it!" someone shouted. 

Fayth twisted to see who it was. "Hi, Marsy!" she said cheerfully, forgetting or ignoring the hands that pinned her to the wall. 

"Hi, Fayth," Marsy said carefully. Marsy was one of the obvious freaks. He had dark blue hair and skin, and sharp teeth. He was also really strong. "Fayth, do you want to be pinned to the wall?" 

"Not really," Fayth said, looking at Rashel. "Rashel, why are you pinning me to the wall?" she asked puzzledly. 

Rashel lost it. 

Whatever _it_ is, Fayth thought while she was beaten. I'm not sure if she even had it in the first place if I don't know what it is... 

"I'm not Rashel! I answered to that goddamn name for two years and I'm not going to even think about answering to it again, I'm Rachel, do you hear me, I'm Rachel and you just--" 

The pounding stopped as Rashel was pulled off of Fayth. Fayth's body shimmered and turned back into a kitten. She whined loudly. It was sort of a hard sound on panther vocal cords, but she was pretty good at it. 

Marsy held Rashel's arms as she struggled, obviously annoyed. 

*I'm tired,* Fayth announced. *And hungry. Can I go to sleep now?* 

"Sure," Marsy said as he tried to keep his grip on the kicking, fighting Rashel. "Just don't expect Rashel, or Rachel, to be here in the morning." 

*Okay...* Fayth said, bounding back into her room and pouncing on Scept. Poor Rashel. She seemed mad... 

-/|\- 

Chapter twelve 

Rachel struggled. But Marsy was too strong to get away from. "Let. Me. _Go_." she hissed between her teeth. 

"No," Marsy said, straightforward as usual. He carried Rachel out of the castle and into the woods. 

"Morph your wolf," he said, tossing her in front of him. She growled, reaching for her weapons now that she could use her hands, but Marsy wasn't an idiot. They weren't there. "You can find your own way out of this woods," he added. When Rachel growled again, he snapped at her. "Get this straight, Fayth did nothing to you. She asked you if you would help out Maki's team. You said yes. You never asked for any information. You, Rashel, or Rachel, I might say, are not an asset to us. You charge into a battle without thinking, as many as you can and fight as much as you can. If you're a wolf or a bear or human or Hork-Bajir, you're a wildcat that no one is going to predict. That might help in fights, but that does not build a strong team." 

By now, two other members of the fort were tentively peering around the trees, curious. Rachel recognised Skip, a talking dog, and Rulek, a boy with wings and purple horns. 

"Get out of here," Marsy ordered. They scurried off. 

"Rachel, you get out of here, too." 

Then everything exploded at once. The trees around them were on fire. Marsy was thrown backwards. Rachel was propelled up and thrown heavily into a tree. 

Marsy and Rachel exchanged panicked looks. Yeerk landmines. The Yeerks would show up in minutes. 

They turned and ran in opposite directions, Marsy back to the castle and Rachel to death-may-care-where... 

-/|\- 

Chapter Thirteen (after chapter nine) 

Rachel stood in an empty white world. 

"I don't know _what_ is going on but I have to say that _I am getting really sick of it_!" Rachel screamed. 

And Drode appeared. 

"You made a deal..." 

"I didn't do it! It was Fayth's fault! It was Maki's order to attack the ship, it was--" 

"Don't place blame, Rachel. You killed him..." 

"I did no such thing!" 

"He's dead, and you did it..." 

"I didn't mean to! I wouldn't have done it if I knew what I--" 

"You killed him..." It seemed to echo. Rachel listened it that phase for what seemed like hours, before screaming out of pure, indirected hate. 

She screamed and raged for even longer than Drode's words had echoed. And when she was done, he was still standing there, looking mildly surprised, like Fayth had. 

"My master offers you salvation." 

"_Your master offers me death!_" Rachel screamed. 

"My master--" 

"Crayak!" She spat the word out. "Crayak does no good." 

Drode smiled. "How could you say that when--" 

Rachel screamed again. This wasn't raving, ranting screaming. It was the noise of someone in intense pain. 

"Rachel!" 

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" 

"Rachel!" 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" 

"Rachel! Stop!" 

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" 

-/|\- 

Chapter Fourteen 

"Rachel. Come on, Rachel, come here." 

Rachel sat up groggily. "What?" 

Tobias-- in human form-- put out his hand and helped her to her feet. "How are you feeling?" 

Rachel groaned and put her hand to her head. "Did I get hit in the head? It hurts." 

Jake smiled. "It's Rachel, alright!" 

"What happened?" Rachel asked. 

Cassie touched Rachel on the shoulder. "It's a long story." 

"Tell me," Rachel begged. 

Cassie looked at Jake. He looked at Marco. Marco looked at Tobias. Tobias looked at Ax. 

< I see that you humans are playing that game again,> Ax said in frustration. < That game where no one seems to want to tell the other something.> 

"Yep, we're playing that game again," Tobias agreed. 

Ax sighed noisily in thought-speach, something he had picked up from Marco. < You're dead.> 

"What?!" Rachel shrieked. 

Everyone clapped their hands over their ears. 

< We're all dead,> Ax continued. < I don't know where this is, but--> 

AXIMILI, OF COURSE NONE OF YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS. 

"What the hell?" Rachel demanded. Everyone, echoing her, looked around. 

"Elimist?" Tobias suggested. 

"Or Crayak," Rachel said darkly. 

Marco shook his head. "Does it have to be either?" 

. 

_Possibly to be continued, although this strikes me as the perfect place to end the story... I'm outta ideas, okay? Tomorrow I'll probably want to finish it._


End file.
